One of the biggest tunes of the last year which sprung from a collaboration between Bristolians Joker and TC has, after being rinsed by some of the biggest name DJs around and unfortunately leaked earlier this year, been given away for free by Joker himself via Twitter.

And on a similarly purple vibe, Mensah's breakbeat remix of Joker's 'Psychedelic Runway' has been put out as promo for tonight's event at Fabric in London. Keeping Joker's characteristic climbing synth riffs in place, Mensah adds an extra layer of bassweight and switches up the drums with a scattering of amens.

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Having finally, it seems, caught the eye of a wider musical audience, Terror Danjah has been getting a lot of attention recently. The most recent of which comes in the form of this his offering for the renowned Resident Advisor podcast series. Weighing in with a huge tracklist, featuring exclusives such as his own remix of DJ Spooky's massive 'Spartan' instrumental aswell as specials of tunes from Mz Bratt and Ill Blu and tracks off his new album, 'Undeniable'. You can read the full RA interview with the man himself here.

Monday, 22 November 2010

Apparently not content with giving out three free EPs this summer aswell as the screeching 'Raw Dogz', Skream delivers yet another tune to download without a fee. Another metallic, tear-out tune, 'Fabric' was given away after Skream found the tune but couldn't remember making it.

Saturday, 20 November 2010

Having risen over recent years to establish himself as undoubtedly one of this years hottest grime producers, Zdot is the man behind the beats for the tunes such as Wiley's recent free release 'Roaming', Ghetts' war dub for P Money 'Destruction Of The Eiffel Tower' and Griminal's 'ET'. His beats are build with an old-school, minimal feel to them which provides the perfect platform for the increasingly lyrical approach of the new wave of grime MCs, yet this does not mean they don't pack a punch without the aid of a vocalist. The 'Route to Success' series is aimed at showcasing this sound, and furthermore delivers all of the tunes in a high quality format: something that is all too rare in the grime scene.

Part 1 features vocals from some of the biggest names about, including Ghetts, Doller Da Dustman, Shifty & Badness alongside a collection of instrumentals such as 'Gwop Likes Me' and the huge 'Me & Z'.

Part 2 is similarly weighty, this time featuring stalwarts on the mic, such as Wiley and Mercston, alongside younger, rising MCs like Maxsta. The beats, of course, are as diverse and consistently well-produced as has come to be expected of the young producer.

Saturday, 13 November 2010

Elijah & Skilliam, the forward-thinking DJs behind the Butterz imprint, have put up one of the biggest grime instrumentals of the past year as a free download in the form of 'Missing Step'. This D.O.K & Spyro collaboration was an instant cop when it was released officially, so to have it as a free download is nothing less than an early Christmas present.

Friday, 12 November 2010

Dutch producer TMSV has taken the time answer a few of our questions as well as completing an exclusive mix showcasing some of his beats. With his first international release currently available on Box Clever and support recently coming from no less than DJ Youngsta, TMSV is certainly one to watch. Enjoy:

Hedmuk: Just as a neat introduction for anyone who may be unaware of you- what name do you write under, where are you from, and how would you describe your sound?

TMSV: I'm TMSV and I'm from the Netherlands. I mostly produce dubstep with as much sub bass as possible.

H: When did you start to make beats?

T: I first started experimenting around 2004 or 2005 actually, but I'm not sure if what I made back then could actually be considered music, haha. I listened to a lot of drum & bass, so until 2007 that's what I was most interested in making. I started to make music at 140 bpm around the start of 2007 and that's when I began to take music more seriously.

H: Tell us a bit about your production process. How long does it take you to make a tune? Do you Juggle several tunes at once or focus your efforts on one at a time?

T: I recently discovered that my sequencer keeps track of how long I've been working on a tune. If that's anything to go by, I guess I spend between 4 and 10 hours on a tune, 4 hours probably being the quickest I've ever finished one. I often forget about a certain project because I always work on multiple tunes at the same time; if I don't finish a beat in a couple of days, chances are it gets lost among loads of ideas and unfinished tunes on my hard drive, either for a while or forever.

H: You spoke briefly in your Kmag interview of your love of ‘old school’ minimal Dubstep, citing Digital Mystikz , Skream and Distance as early influences. I wondered if you could enlighten us further. Were there any stand out releases you cherished? Perhaps your first experience of Dubstep in a club affected you?

T: The first dubstep I really couldn't stop listening to were a couple of DMZ releases (like Haunted/Anti War Dub and Left Leg Out/Blue Notez-if anyone has a spare copy of this, let me know!) and Skream's debut album. For some reason I can't really remember the first time I heard it in a club, but I do remember a (Deep Medi?) night at Melkweg in Amsterdam which was pretty amazing.

H: What do you make of the bass music scene at the moment, in particular the dark, brooding end of the scene. Do you think it is well represented and promoted? Perhaps on a more personal level to you, is it well represented in Holland?

T: I think there's an incredible amount of good music being made at the moment. I can't really say anything about how well it's promoted internationally, but I know there's a lot of people in Holland who are very much into the deeper side of bass music. Of course I would like it to be more popular, because it's a type of music I really like, but it's still an underground sound.

H: Tell us a bit about the scene in the Netherlands. What are your favourite nights/events ?

T: I think Holland was one of the first countries to pick up the sound from the UK, so there's a very dedicated group of people who have been, and still keep pushing and supporting the sound in various ways, be it just listening to it, djing, producing, taking pictures, making artwork, running labels or putting on nights. Being a small country also helps because I think all of those people know eachother or are at most one handshake away.

My favourite nights by far are Dub Infusions and Radical. Both nights get really good djs to play at nice, dark venues and aside from that it's always a really good night out regardless of who's playing.

H: Aside from you in the Dutch scene, we are already aware of Myrkur and Bojcot Selectah. Are there any other Dutch producer that you would recommend we check out? What kind of music are they making?

T:Halp, Presk, Astroposer, The Illuminated, Inofaith and Myrkur (again, yes). I'd like to mention June Miller as well, even though they've been pretty well-known in the drum & bass scene for some time. I probably forgot a couple, sorry! Actually most of them are getting quite a bit of well-deserved attention at the moment.

H: Is there pressure on foreign producers to spend a large amount of their time in the U.K? In the past Dubstep producers from outside the U.K, people such as DJ Madd, have made the decision to up sticks and move here. Is this something you have considered? Or is the scene strong enough internationally nowadays to satisfy you.

T: I've never felt pressured to leave the Netherlands to pursue a career in music, at least not yet. Thinking about it, I haven't been to the UK since I started taking producing seriously.

I would really like to come to the UK some time to play out, meet up with people and make a tune or 2 with some of them.

I can't really say anything about whether the scene is strong enough internationally (of course not counting the internet!), because I haven't ever done anything music related abroad, but I do know Holland is a good country for dubstep and music in general.

T: It means a lot, because apparently people like my music enough to consider it worthy of an international release. I'm very happy the music I've put so much time and effort into is being appreciated even by people I don't know, who even spend their money on it!

H: Listening to a recent Youngsta set on Rinse, he opened with ‘Myth’ and later dropped ‘All it Takes'( it got a reload as well). What does it mean to you knowing some of the biggest names in the scene have, listen and like your tunes?

T: It's amazing, like I said i'm really happy my music is being received so well. Hearing tunes I made get played on radio shows, mixes and so forth by influential people I admire as artists is still a bit unreal, but it feels really good!

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Playground Mag begin their series of intimate video portraits with legendary grime producer and current Hyperdub favourite Terror Danjah. The short documentary, released to coincide with the release of his sophomore album 'Undeniable' on Kode9's aforementioned label, features a live show and footage of a brand new beat being built aswell as an insight into everyday life for the artist, and is well worth a watch.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

One of Manchester's seminal bass music nights, Bass Camp, celebrates it's 6th birthday this Friday. Organiser Ken-Evil has consistently delivered original and varied line-ups over the years, even giving the likes of Loefah, Skream and Pinch their Manchester debut.

Be sure to get down and support this.

To find out more about Bass Camp and it's organiser Ken-Evil check out our exclusive interview with accompanying mix here.